Children's social workers - Why work in Hammersmith & Fulham

Hammersmith & Fulham formed the children’s services department in April 2006 by merging the children’s trust and education department.

Continuing professional development is central to the aims for providing an excellent children’s service within the borough. We strive for continual improvement in helping the young people of the borough achieve their potential.

Training opportunities

• Great opportunities and fantastic support for newly qualified social workers, including a distinctive mentoring system.
  
• A comprehensive induction programme for all new staff.
  
• Access to a bespoke training programme of which the majority of courses are certified and contribute to the post registration training and learning required for social worker re-registration.
  
• Superior support for our staff: We operate in smaller teams with greater back up for new members of staff, for example supporting with court work or working with other agencies such as health and education.
  
• Strong focus on the post qualifying framework: Employees are encouraged to obtain their PQ1 within two years of qualifying and to then obtain the Child Care Award and Practice Teaching Award.
  
• Social workers can apply for senior social worker posts after two years’ service.
  
• The borough has a strong ethos of continuing professional development.
  
• There is a central training programme to ensure staff are developed at all levels.
  
• In September 2005 the borough celebrated the opening of our professional development centre (PDC) at Lilla Huset. The centre has been completely re-designed and provides excellent facilities for training courses and meetings.            

Career development

For you to stay and thrive we realise that you need to be able to reach your full potential. To help you do this
we use many tools:

• A reputable training service for career and personal development.
  
• A strong development management structure to support your growth.
  
• Varied secondment opportunities.
  
• Internal recruitment means that you will have access to job opportunities before external applicants are considered. This allows career paths to change direction and allows for the development of multiple skill areas. We enable staff to gain new and valuable learning experiences which can then be fed back into the organisation.
  
• If you are interested in studying for a qualification which will enhance your job you can apply for full or
  part funding of the course and paid study leave.